It’s time to party. The best reason for this -- harvest is over (or almost over in some cases). Second best reason, at least in our case, is that our brand, Corn+Soybean Digest, is 75 years young this month.

Yup, what started as a market-building American Soybean Association member magazine that took root in November 1940 -- has now grown to become an independent “think different” content brand that engages corn and soybean farmers across America every day on their mobile devices and computers. And our printed version still lands in your mailbox 10 times a year.

Yes, we’re not your grandfather’s magazine – philosophically or agronomically. However, I think it could be cool to sit down with the senior farmers in the family and reminise over the stories of our great farming heritage that we are now beginning to post on CSDigest.com. Our birthday will be a year-long celebration that pays tribute to the past, but also explores the future as we leap into 2020 and beyond.

In fact, feel free to write and share some of these family memories with us, either by posting in the comments section at the bottom of the gallery, or email me at [email protected].

Starting with the 1940s

So, we dive into our 75th birthday by exploring the first decade of our existence, the early 1940s: http://bit.ly/CSD1940s. It was a time of huge growth in the soybean industry.

Then for fun, we’ll take a look at the some of the advertising during each decade, since these valuable companies provide the revenue that allows us to send you a free magazine. And good content isn’t cheap. In fact, the association lost $2,000 in the first year of publishing Soybean Digest, but they vowed to continue support of this valuable information for farmers.

Look for this gallery in the coming weeks.

Finally, we’re cooking up plans right now to enlist the deep and creative thinkers of our industry to shed light on our future. Stay tuned.